Young players tend not to make significant impressions at international finals. There are exceptions, of course, notably Pele (1958 World Cup), Frank Beckenbauer (1966 World Cup) and Michael Owen (1998 World Cup), but generally football’s top table is for the tried and trusted. Before ...

Two of the most high-profile strikers in Europe are set to go head-to-head in Alicante on Friday when Spain plays England, battling to prove it is still among the best in the business. Diego Costa and Wayne Rooney have massive reputations, but as the ...

We were all wrong. Every single one of the so-called experts who are lucky enough to earn a living from giving opinions about football called it badly. Leicester City, we said, would be relegated. At best, narrowly escape the drop. Why? Because it had ...

The self-styled Special One goes head-to-head with the Sensible One on Saturday. Jose Mourinho and JürgenKlopp, Chelsea vs. Liverpool, yet the build-up to the first meeting in English football between the Portuguese and the German has been dominated by Mourinho’s continued (and showing no ...

As much as both managers try to say there are still only three points available when Manchester United hosts Manchester City on Sunday, Wayne Rooney called it right when he said it is “a massive game of pride.” It is third vs. first in ...

Those who expect an underachieving Liverpool to suddenly become a Premier League powerhouse because Jürgen Klopp is in charge will be disappointed. The German is an excellent manager, but not a miracle worker as some of the hype would have us believe. His debut ...

The perfect footballer? A one-man team? There may be no such thing, but Gareth Bale is pushing these theories to breaking point as Wales braces itself to qualify for a major finals for the first time since 1958. England has crossed the finish line ...

It is part of life for Arsenal supporters to be in an almost permanent state of confusion. A stunning victory, such as the 5-2 victory at previously unbeaten Leicester is followed by an abject display when losing 3-2 at home to Olympiacos, which had ...

The noose is tightening round the neck of Brendan Rodgers. How long the Boston-based Fenway Sports Group, which owns Liverpool, will stay loyal to its manager remains to be seen, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to put up a valid argument that Rodgers ...

Barcelona fielded its strongest side away to Roma, as did Real Madrid at home to Shakhtar Donetsk, Paris Saint-Germain hosting Malmo, Atletico Madrid away to Galatasaray, Bayern Munich away to Olympiakos and Juventus at Manchester City. None of them lost; in fact, all the ...

This is a game Louis van Gaal dare not lose. English football’s clasico between Manchester United and Liverpool today is, like Barcelona vs. Real Madrid, not a derby, but it represents the fiercest and most hostile rivalry in English football. The jury has returned ...

On Saturday, Wayne Rooney could become England’s all-time leading goalscorer. He needs two goals against San Marino to overtake Sir Bobby Charlton’s record of 49. By the end of the season he may well have surpassed Charlton’s Manchester United record of 249 goals — ...